


Wants and Needs

by toonphile



Category: Them's Fightin' Herds (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Other, Pining, Pre-Relationship, how to fall in love with an ancient demon god
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25327987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toonphile/pseuds/toonphile
Summary: FHTNG TH§ ¿NSP§KBL? does not do attachments.
Relationships: Fred & Oleander, Fred/Oleander
Kudos: 8





	Wants and Needs

FHTNG TH§ ¿NSP§KBL? does not do attachments. 

He does not really care for the creatures of this plain; boring, mostly, and not very useful to his...goals. Most of those he had made a contract with had gone mad, or he had devoured them for their weakness or hestiance. And for a while, he was left alone to his own peace, to be alone with his thoughts.

And then came Oleander.

( _"So what's your name?" the unicorn asks, cocking her head at the book in front of her. FHTNG scoffs, wanting nothing to do with another unicorn desperate for power or wealth. But when he let himself seep slightly into her being, he found...no desire for those sort of things. Only a need to save her world, and hope. She didn’t even have any ill will towards Dark Magic, either. She had a deep **want** to proof that it could be useful, instead of harmful._

_FHTNG had no interest in those things, either. He was a being of pure pain and hatred, after all, and only wished to see this world burn down into beautiful embers. However, the unicorn was...interesting, more fascinating than anything else he’s been approached with in his thousands years of existence, and makes his choice then._

_“FHTNG TH§ ¿NSP§KBL? >.”_

_“...What?”_

_“That is my name.”_

_“How. How do I even pronounce that?”_

_“Are you deaf, I just said it.”_

_“Can I call you Fred instead? It’s easier to say.”_

_“Girl-”_

_“Fred it is!”_ )

And since then, he’s been with her, this strangely complex creature. Whispers in her ear to do horrible, wrathful things, but she would just roll her eyes and continue on her way. Teaching her the complex spells within the Unicornomicon, her eyes full of wonder and curiosity. Oleander was both worldly and wise but immature and innocent at the same time. It was _fascinating_ , and that’s why he stuck by her, no matter how annoyed he was with her insitint need to protect her home. 

\--

Sometimes, when Oleander’s asleep, he’ll slip into her memories, just to take a peek. He’s allowed to see her whole life, a specter watching it like it’s a movie. She has no memories before age six, and that makes FHTNG wonder if she’s repressing something. He does not prod for them, however. Bringing up things that her mind had purposely pushed down is a recipe for disaster, though he stores it away just in case Oleander decides to turn against him (he doubts it; the unicorn had made a contract with him, and she seems the type to not break them unless absolutely necessary). Instead, he watches as she runs around as a young foal, happily skipping the halls of the Order of the Horn’s homebase, carefree. Most of her foalhood is happy, joyful, nothing really out of the ordinary. 

It all starts falling apart when she hits her teenage years, growing increasingly bitter at her teachers, wanting to know knowledge they had forbidden her from. He watches her become more agitated, pacing constantly, and FHTNG can feel the need thrumming off of her, an aura of _I need to know_ coming off in waves. And when she had heard the call for a Keyholder for the Forest, her bitterness and rage only grew at the reaction from her peers, ignoring something so important. 

So she had sought him out, his darkness, because she knew she needed something more powerful, more versatile, to help. She had never seen Dark Magic as this foul, awful thing, but as a tool, like all magic, to get to one's goals. This is something she had repeated to him over and over again, saying that magic is only as good or bad as the welder. And over time, he’s beginning to agree with her.

\--

Oleander likes drawing things. 

It’s something FHTNG caught on not only through her memories, of a foalhood drawing everything and anything, but the here and now, sketching out routes and runes, seeming to understand things better through art than through the pages she would read. It was...kind of adorable.

FHTNG is less disgusted with that thought then he should be. 

This strange softness he’s begun to feel for this mare only gets stronger the day they stop to rest for once, since Oleander has been racing to save...everything. The unicorn had been snacking on an apple while he had relaxed within his book, letting darkness flow in and out of him. That’s when she asks.

“Has anyone ever drawn you before, Fred?” FHTNG lets some shadowy tendrils pop out of the Unicornomicon, before deciding to speak.  
“Never. Why do you ask?” Oleander fidgets, but he can feel some sort of desire coming off of her, and now he knows. For whatever reason, she wanted to draw him. He sighs. “Do whatever you want.”

“What?” Confusion crossed her face, but he gave it no time of day.

“Draw me, if you want.” A look of understanding replaces her intentional confusion, and FHTNG can feel annoyance and also...fondness? Huh. 

“I wish you wouldn’t read my emotions like that.” Oleander huffs. “But give me a few minutes! You shouldn’t be too hard to sketch.” 

And with that, she goes silent, her focus solely on drawing him. He’s never had a contractor so invested in him beyond his abilities or what magic he could teach them. It’s different, to say the least. But that’s why he’s stuck with her so long; she’s always been different, from the start. 

“Andddd done!” She sing-songs, proud dripping in her voice. She hovers the piece of paper in front of the book, and FHTNG has to hold in a laugh. 

It’s very childish, white spots in her coloring, and his skeletal mask awkward looking. But it was _him_ , big and brooding and with a grumpy look on his face. 

“It’s...nice.” Oleander beams in response, before slipping both him and the drawing into her satchel. 

“Well, we’ve had our break. Back to work!” And with that, they’re off.

\--

Before meeting Oleander, FHTNG thought he knew what he wanted.

Destruction, misery, fear. A world that was filled to the brim with suffering.

Now? After meeting someone so interesting? He’s not so sure anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on twitter @tooncestly!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Oleander Character Stuff. Don't question it.](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25549804) by [NotSoDogNinja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotSoDogNinja/pseuds/NotSoDogNinja)




End file.
